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calimacYou wouldn't think that phonograph turntables, the kind you play vinyl on, would be much more obsolete today than in 1999, would you? Well, apparently they are.
I still have lots of LPs because I have lots of music that's never been on CD and because I am not made of money and because my amp pre-dates digital conversion anyway and because I wouldn't want to spend years converting a closetful of LPs to CD and hyper-worrying about every possible skip and scratch.
I don't listen to the LPs that much, but I have a little project going that involves fetching out a few for re-listening - you'll find out why in a day or two - and I thought, I've had this turntable for 8 years now, it's probably about time to change the needle.
Next day began my grim struggle with the ... well, I went back to the stereo store where I'd bought the turntable, its predecessor having died gruesomely, and lo, not only don't they sell turntables any more, they have no idea where to find needles, and they're rather condescending about my coming into the store instead of buying one on the web anyway. Jeepers, I'm old enough that when I need to buy replacement supplies for something, the first place I look is the store where I got the original item in the first place. But after their attitude, I'm not going back there again for anything.
There's one store in the yellow pages with an ad saying they specialize in turntables. It's in a lurid industrial zone miles away. I drive there. They're closed till 1 PM. I come back. It's not a store by the normal definition, it's a big garage full of old equipment. Remember the computer store Weird Stuff? Like that, only with stereos. The crusty owner looks at the needle. He can't replace it. To borrow a line from Walt Willis, the manufacturers had made this one cartridge and then broken the dies, burned the blueprints, and shot all the technicians responsible.
He can replace the cartridge, but needs to have the whole turntable so he can rebalance it. I go home. I remember how to unplug the turntable. I bring it in. He fits it with a new cartridge that he promises won't be unknown eight years from now. I go home and resume playing records.
Which is where I am now. See you later.
I still have lots of LPs because I have lots of music that's never been on CD and because I am not made of money and because my amp pre-dates digital conversion anyway and because I wouldn't want to spend years converting a closetful of LPs to CD and hyper-worrying about every possible skip and scratch.
I don't listen to the LPs that much, but I have a little project going that involves fetching out a few for re-listening - you'll find out why in a day or two - and I thought, I've had this turntable for 8 years now, it's probably about time to change the needle.
Next day began my grim struggle with the ... well, I went back to the stereo store where I'd bought the turntable, its predecessor having died gruesomely, and lo, not only don't they sell turntables any more, they have no idea where to find needles, and they're rather condescending about my coming into the store instead of buying one on the web anyway. Jeepers, I'm old enough that when I need to buy replacement supplies for something, the first place I look is the store where I got the original item in the first place. But after their attitude, I'm not going back there again for anything.
There's one store in the yellow pages with an ad saying they specialize in turntables. It's in a lurid industrial zone miles away. I drive there. They're closed till 1 PM. I come back. It's not a store by the normal definition, it's a big garage full of old equipment. Remember the computer store Weird Stuff? Like that, only with stereos. The crusty owner looks at the needle. He can't replace it. To borrow a line from Walt Willis, the manufacturers had made this one cartridge and then broken the dies, burned the blueprints, and shot all the technicians responsible.
He can replace the cartridge, but needs to have the whole turntable so he can rebalance it. I go home. I remember how to unplug the turntable. I bring it in. He fits it with a new cartridge that he promises won't be unknown eight years from now. I go home and resume playing records.
Which is where I am now. See you later.
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-01 07:43 pm (UTC)There are definitely different perspectives one can take on this. If it's convenient enough to do so, sure, why not burn a quickie CD to have something to listen to, the same way as we used to make tapes? I can see that.
But in my case, few of my remaining LPs are music I'd listen to often enough to want to bother to get a new turntable just for that purpose. I don't even do it often with CDs, though I am considering taking a few obscure folk CDs I only ever listen to one or two tracks of, making an anthology, and disposing of the originals.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-01 08:04 pm (UTC)Different streaks for different freaks, and all that.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-01 08:18 pm (UTC)But, for "burn a CD," you may read "transfer to an ipod" if you so desire. I have my own reasons for not being very interested in an ipod, but they're unrelated to the LP-vs-digital-storage question.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-01 08:30 pm (UTC)